Bike to Work Week – Day 1

Have I told you that I hate the trainer? Of course I have. I really do hate it.

The first day of Bike to Work Week was rainy, and I almost went out anyway (just not to work). There were only light sprinkles and I thought it would be more enjoyable than the trainer. But then, some good interval work is always helpful. So I jumped on the trainer and worked it. I hate the trainer.

The plan was a 3 minute warm-up, followed by an interval to a target heart rate … then hold it until the end of the 5 minute interval, followed by a 3 minute cool-down to a target of 120 bpm, and repeat. My targets for this ride were 140, 145, 150, 155, 150, 145, & 140 with a gradual 4 minute cool-down at the end. I wanted to hold flatter tops than before, and typically rode about 3 minutes at the target heart rate.

As you can see, the heart rate graph demonstrates interval work pretty well.